Closing the Deal - Illinois
Zendal and his Pike County Buck.
The Deal is Closed!
Hunter: Zendal Carroll
Cameraman: Lonnie Turnbeaugh
My deer season had been one of the most exciting seasons I have ever had. I had been so close to so many animals, but had not been able to actually close the deal. In Colorado, Gary and I had been close to a monster Whitetail—a probable booner with every tine busted off, and had a good Muley at seven yards, after camera light was long gone. The whole season, behind the camera and with a weapon, just hadn’t been a “close the deal” season for me.
I did hold an ace, I had drawn a Pike county muzzleloader tag, and I had three days to fill it. I started out having no one to run a camera for me, then luckily, Lonnie Turnbeaugh gave up his hunt time to run camera for me, thanks so much Lonnie!
The first evening was spent in a shooters box where Lonnie’s wife Meegan had actually filled her tag a few days before. They had seen a lot of deer and she had shot a great buck scoring in the 140’s. We saw a few deer but nothing even close to being a shooter.
The second hunt was a complete shutout. I don’t believe we even got a glimpse of a deer, that’s hunting I guess. I only needed one of the bucks that we had watched for the last two seasons, to at least offer me a chance at filling my tag. So far, it was looking as though I would be eating another tag, as I still had the Colorado deer tag good for either Whitetail or Muley, in my pack, as if it would help to ease the pain of another tag actually going unfilled.
As Scott put Lonnie and I into the blind on the third evening, I was all ready to accept that it may not be my season for an opportunity at a good buck, just like last year, and the year before. As time passed, the only deer we could see were at least 300 yards to the right of us, nothing big and surely not nearly close enough.
As we watched from a distance, the deer fed out into the soybeans and milled around. From where we sat watching, suddenly I could see tines climbing the backside of the levy only 120 yards from us. As the buck stood on top of the levy, we knew for sure he carried at least 140 inches of rack above his head. Lonnie and I both thought he would work his way down to the other deer we had been watching. He stood just 110 yards away as I hoped and prayed that for some reason he would come our way, or at least stand there long enough for me to get a shot.
When the buck broke and finally came down off the levy, he made the mistake of coming in our direction, closing the distance between us. As he walked along and fed, he kept a watchful eye on the Ameristep blind hiding two excited hunters. As the buck finally turned, it seemed as though he wanted to join the other deer still feeding 300 yards to our right. As soon as Lonnie gave me the go ahead, I bleated and the buck stopped at 80 yards. As I touched off the shot and the buck turned and headed back up the levy, we could see that he was mortally wounded. Just as he crossed the top of the levy, we could tell he was losing his balance. Just out of sight he was down for keeps. After the shot, we sat and waited for Scott to pick us up. We knew that I had finally taken a great buck at Eagle Lakes Outfitters in the famous Pike County.
At the end of the blood trail just over the levy, there laid my best buck ever. Thanks to Ted and Tina, owners of Eagle Lakes, Scott, our guide, and especially Lonnie, for giving up his hunt time to sit and run camera for me. I had a great time with Lonnie, swapping hunting tales. Many thanks to everyone at Eagle Lakes for the hard work they did just to let me take such a beautiful animal. I can hardly wait for next fall to start deer season all over again.